Lumberjacks

Am I breaking my “no political humor” strip by mentioning Al Gore? Maybe a little bit. On the one hand, I’m only poking at him as a celebrity, not a politician. I’m not really making any political point here, either.

Then again, one of my three or four reasons for not doing political jokes is definitely being violated. This strip will age much faster than others in the collection. So I guess I did cross one of my lines for a gag. Hope it was worth it.

So how do I really feel about Al Gore? When Dubya was nominated, people thought I was crazy for saying he was the worst politician I could imagine in the White House. (Somehow, he has since exceeded all of my nightmare scenarios.) But having lived under his regime in Texas, I knew that it was imperative that someone, ANYONE had to stand up and defeat him. That job unfortunately fell to a man I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm or support for. So I feel about Al Gore the way Clinton-haters must have felt about Dole in 86: his failure was too monumental to forgive. Fraudulent election or not, the man couldn’t even carry his home state. He was rational and right, but just too easy to loathe and fear. Whereas Dubya is a cute and lovable little cancer, and most people still haven’t caught on to the devastating wounds (fiscal, moral and political) that he has inflicted on America.

And it’s for paragraphs like the one above that “Hide Commentary” is the default. There’s enough bombast on the internet, and you don’t have to read mine to enjoy my comic strip. Long live the First Amendment.

Discussion ¬

And nine years later, we’re dealing with the same sort of ugly choice in candidates. The current Oval Office resident has proven himself to be every bit as honest as you’d expect from a career politician from the Chicago area, and just as big of an executive-power-abusing creep as Dubya was.

Me, I’m voting for Gary Johnson, in spite of his party affiliation. It’s a change for me, as he’s actually on the ballot: In 88 and 92, I wrote in Frank Zappa, and have written in Steve Albini ever since. I like the idea of an anti-war fiscal conservative who would end the drug war… and use the money saved on social services. Shit, it’d be nice to finally have a President that I believe could beat me in a game of Scrabble; yes, it’s a strange litmus, but I consider it a valid one.